Thousands Club

A veteran teacher understands the need for good 'sponge' activities. The sponge is any somewhat important activity that a child can do on their own after they have finished with their assigned seatwork. These days we call these the May Dos, and the Must Dos. On the must do list, are all the most essential tasks - stories or letters to write, the daily language, spelling and math worksheets. On the may do list, there's a few easy, valuable but not immediate tasks that a child who finishes early can do so that they don't have to come up with their own ideas. My May Do list is simple: read a book, practice with flash cards, or work on your Thousand Club Book.

The thousand club book is a simple book with 10 pages of 100 grid graph paper on which one can write the counting numbers to 1,000. Here's where it gets a little twisted, if I made my students write to 1,000 it would be like pulling teeth. They'd hide their books, lose them and break pencils just to avoid this horrific chore. I've been this route.

But to put it on the May Do list, a prize activity choice and voila! It's got a new image, Now it's the most popular pastime happening in room 33. If I turn my back on my munchkins, there they go - sneaking out their counting books to clandestinely work on them.

I already have seven students who have finished their books, one more will finish tomorrow. I gently scold them for working too much on the numbers when they need to finish their language arts, but not without an inner chuckle. I'm quietly proud of their contrary industry.